PR software provider Meltwater, which said last month that its stake in Cision had surpassed 10%, has bid $138M in cash for the company, topping an offer by private equity firm GTCR.

Jorn Lyseggen, CEO of San Francisco-based Meltwater, said his company sees an "industrial logic" in combining the two companies. "We believe that together we will be in a position to offer clients better services combining the world’s best media intelligence services and the world’s premier journalist contact database," he said in announcing the Meltwater bid on April 3.

Meltwater later in the day April 3 lowered the threshold required for acceptance of its bid from 80 percent to 70 percent.

Blue Canyon Holdings, the GTCR takeover unit which upped a February bid for Cision after Meltwater entered the scene in March, responded April 3 by noting it has control of more than 20% of Sweden-based Cision, counting its own stake and shares tendered in its 55.10 SEK-per-share offer.

Cision, which has spent time and capital over the past few years to remake itself in the digital era, posted revenues of around $130M last year. The company postponed its April 9 annual meeting until late May amid the takeover interest.

Cision's shares, which had been trading above the 60 SEK-per-share threshhold of Meltwater's bid, dipped below that mark after Meltwater went public on Thursday.